One of our goals in BoycottNovell is to disspell myths and expose people whom Microsoft pays to discredit Linux in the media. Novell has suffered from such tactics over the years and its interviews in the press, which sometimes reveal a predatory attitude, do them no favour.

I wish not to link at the 'article' I've just found (that would be a case of feeding the troll), but I only wish to describe what has become gross (mis)use of the mainstream press to serve corporate agenda. I will post a followup item shortly, just to support this argument. I have plenty of evidence to show that what people perceive as "the news" is often "the agenda".

In the mean time, be aware that Microsoft fears GPLv3 a great deal. It pretty much confirmed this several days ago. Last night's statement from Microsoft confirmed it again.

A: [Microsoft] "The latest draft of the GPLv3 attempts to tear down the bridge that Microsoft and Novell have built between proprietary and open source software...

Microsoft relies on its deal with Novell and the loophole it has found in GPLv2. Its endless attacks on GPLv3 are solid proof of this. It's the GPLv3 that makes Microsoft very scared.

Delivering balanced news is fine. What's most disturbing, however, are endless 'placements' in mainstream media, which is an issue worth tackling and exploring here (and I shall do this in days to come). They tried to create a lot of scare which would surround the 5 characters G-P-L-V-3. Some observers, developers, and customers are still afraid as a result.

There was a huge, coordinated FUD campaign. OSDL's head, Stuart Cohen, is said to have lost his job after he pitched to Lyons of Forbes, before the article "The man [RMS] who will kill Linux" showed up (seems to have been retitled "Toppling Linux" since then). Lyons is an infamous Microsoft/SCO shill (Groklaw can grant him the 'certificate') that can barely get his writings published by Forbes nowadays (his recent Forbes article linked to our Web site in a negative context, but then again, so did Spiegel). He is not alone. Maureen O'Gara has already lost her job as a journalist after spying and manipulating press releases in order to damage Free software. ACT does a lot of the 'legwork' too. This is concerning. It led me to the point of this interlude-type post.

Only moments ago I caught Rob "Shill" Enderle paying for a press release that spread more FUD about anti-Linux litigation. This may indicate that no longer is he able to have his 'articles' (lies) submitted to the press, so he just pays (probably Microsoft's money) to have his stuff 'injected' and plugged into the PR wires. Recently he did the same things to warn Dell about these 'cheap' Linux users. It was a press release, not an article, of which he used to have more. It isn't the first time he sticks labels,and stereotypes ,characterising Linux users as 'zealots' or even comparing them to terrorists in the press.

If you identify something suspicious which seems like a self-serving placement in the Web, please let us know. Together, we can help eliminmate or at least reduce the level of disinformation.